Supporting statement for Council Job

borders_dude

I dont want to be harsh,

But,

If you are stuggling to complete the application form, do you really think you are capable of doing the job?

Clark80

borders_dude wrote: »

I dont want to be harsh,

But,

If you are stuggling to complete the application form, do you really think you are capable of doing the job?

I don't think you are harsh. I wonder though if an application form is the same as doing a job? I know exactly what I would do given a number of situations in terms of my actions - Just struggling to put it in words...

Clark80

dmg24 wrote: »

Your first post gave an example heading, and has little relevance to what you then wrote in your third post.

You really need to go back to the drawing board!

:T
Well done this is the closest you have come to giving advice. 3rd time lucky I guess

eamon

In my experience council applications are straightforward. You have the person spec and the job description. The person spec details the skills required as essential and or desirable. Your supporting statement is your opportunity to demonstrate your abilities/skill by use of examples from your present/previous work.
For example if your background is customer services specialising in job training. Then using the bullet point style the header will be the "On the job training of new starters" and the bullets will be the key tasks in achieving this objective. You can use this format for almost all scenarios.
You need to do this for all the person specs that are not already covered by other parts of the application e.g your academic qualifactions.

yours

Eamon

P.S your difficulties in completing the form are the reason why a large percentage of council advertised jobs don't get many applicants even though they send out hundreds of packs for every job.

Clark80

eamon wrote: »

In my experience council applications are straightforward. You have the person spec and the job description. The person spec details the skills required as essential and or desirable. Your supporting statement is your opportunity to demonstrate your abilities/skill by use of examples from your present/previous work.
For example if your background is customer services specialising in job training. Then using the bullet point style the header will be the "On the job training of new starters" and the bullets will be the key tasks in achieving this objective. You can use this format for almost all scenarios.
You need to do this for all the person specs that are not already covered by other parts of the application e.g your academic qualifactions.

yours

Eamon

P.S your difficulties in completing the form are the reason why a large percentage of council advertised jobs don't get many applicants even though they send out hundreds of packs for every job.

I love the bullet style answers but didn't want to complete the whole form that way

I'll try and mix it up a bit.

Thanks for your advice.

terra_ferma

Clark80 wrote: »

I don't think you are harsh. I wonder though if an application form is the same as doing a job? I know exactly what I would do given a number of situations in terms of my actions - Just struggling to put it in words...

You are right it's not the same. However the recruiters will only have your application form to evaluate if you are up to the job (unless they know you that is, but even so you would be making their job very difficult as they would have to justify why they have given the job to someone whose application was not very good...).
And this is only the first stage, what about the interview?

As far as the answer if concerned I agree that the first part is waffle. The second part is relevant but not enough. In the public sector performance is also managed through one to ones and appraisals, setting goals and monitoring them on a longer term than just day by day.
You also must say what you did when performance was bad, including using (or being aware of if not used) capability procedures.
The STAR approach is useful when you give examples about how you put all this into practice.
You don't specify what role it is, but if it's a first-line, supervisory role with no or little management experience required they won't expect perfect answers, but a good level of awareness of what management is and what tools are available to you.

I would say don't listen to people who say you should not go for this, if you are not up to it yet you will not get it this time, but it will be a good experience that will help you move on when you are ready.
I have had a go at jobs I was not ready for yet, and it gave me more confidence when the time was right.

weezy_gal

I agree with the other posters, you should use the STAR method.

start with the compentency heading (e.g. Teamworking) then write a paragraph under each competency on something that you have experienced. there may also be sub headings so try and incorporate these into your experience.

your final paragraph seems good, the parts prior to this seem a little 'textbook'.

I hope this makes sense, and I wish you luck. I'm also in the middle of an application requiring the same style of information, I have written quite a few of these now and the star method seems to work.

Clark80

Thanks everyone for your help. I had another go at the following heading:


A clear understanding of people and performance management.

Situation: During my role as Team Manager at xxxxxxx I was asked to manage a team of relatively new Customer Service Officers. The centre operated 24 hrs daily and my team worked a mixture of shifts dealing with personal banking enquiries.

Task: My task was to assess the needs of each individual and coach/train as necessary to bring them all up to an acceptable level of performance. My goal was to provide support to all members of the team and work the necessary shifts to achieve this.

Action: I started with handing out an appraisal form and booking meetings with each team member. I spilt my day equally among one to one meetings and live side by side coaching on the job. By using information from the meetings and coaching sessions I was able to prepare a learning plan for each individual and cover relevant training, coaching, and feedback to make progress. I used our quarterly appraisal measures to provide a clear set of targets: sales leads, handling time, wrap up time, escalated complaints & quality scores - Both short term and longer term. Whilst I was aware that I may have to at some stage performance manage a few members of the team, I worked hard to meet their individual needs and guide them towards our team & centre objectives.

Result: Overall team performance improved and less compensation was given away. At a centre level the team moved up two places by the next quarter in the league table and one of my staff even received a thank you letter from a customer for solving a long standing query.
I learnt that treating team members as individuals while keeping my eye on team performance helped me really understand what made them tick and therefore how to apply appropriate techniques to unlock their potential.

I feel like the end starts to read like a textbook again but would appreciate any feedback you may have - Am I starting to head back on to the right track? Thanks

terra_ferma

Clark80 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your help. I had another go at the following heading:


A clear understanding of people and performance management.

Situation: During my role as Team Manager at xxxxxxx I was asked to manage a team of relatively new Customer Service Officers. The centre operated 24 hrs daily and my team worked a mixture of shifts dealing with personal banking enquiries.

Task: My task was to assess the needs of each individual and coach/train as necessary to bring them all up to an acceptable level of performance. My goal was to provide support to all members of the team and work the necessary shifts to achieve this.

Action: I started with handing out an appraisal form and booking meetings with each team member. I spilt my day equally among one to one meetings and live side by side coaching on the job. By using information from the meetings and coaching sessions I was able to prepare a learning plan for each individual and cover relevant training, coaching, and feedback to make progress. I used our quarterly appraisal measures to provide a clear set of targets: sales leads, handling time, wrap up time, escalated complaints & quality scores - Both short term and longer term. Whilst I was aware that I may have to at some stage performance manage a few members of the team, I worked hard to meet their individual needs and guide them towards our team & centre objectives.

Result: Overall team performance improved and less compensation was given away. At a centre level the team moved up two places by the next quarter in the league table and one of my staff even received a thank you letter from a customer for solving a long standing query.
I learnt that treating team members as individuals while keeping my eye on team performance helped me really understand what made them tick and therefore how to apply appropriate techniques to unlock their potential.

I feel like the end starts to read like a textbook again but would appreciate any feedback you may have - Am I starting to head back on to the right track? Thanks

Maybe you have taken the advice a bit too literally, you don't need to write situation/taks/action etc. etc. as headings, just to follow that structure.
I think otherwise your statement will look bit odd.

Clark80

terra_ferma wrote: »

Maybe you have taken the advice a bit too literally, you don't need to write situation/taks/action etc. etc. as headings, just to follow that structure.
I think otherwise your statement will look bit odd.

Sorry I did it that way to make it easier to read on the forum. I will of course remove the headings when I submit the form. Other than that do you think it's ok? Thanks

ps. There are approx 30 headings. Am I writing too much or not enough?